The U.S. State Department has jumped into the world of online communication with a vengeance. January 2012 has been designated 21st Century Statecraft month, and Administration officials have been busy tweeting, blogging, doing online Facebook chats, streaming video, and just about every other social media platform imaginable.
As a public diplomacy tool, the Internet has become a heaven-sent gift for Foggy Bottom. Clearly, there is a very determined effort underway to upgrade the image of the State Department from a rather staid and slow-pokey bureaucracy to a hopping, hip, and super-connected organization.
“Stay tuned to www.state.gov, the DipNote blog, @StateDept on Twitter and the U.S. Department of State’s official Facebook page for additional engagement opportunities on our social media platforms throughout 21st Century Statecraft month,” exhorts the State Department’s press release.
By Hele Dale.
THE FOUNDRY (January 31, 2012)
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While there is little doubt that Sweden’s military power is dwarfed by that of the United States, in a networked world Sweden may nevertheless find itself better equipped than the US to exert influence on the global stage.
The Arab Spring makes clear that the nature of power wielded by states is evolving as societies get networked digitally. Intriguingly, a new network-centric theory of power favors Sweden’s open nature as a multiplier of its global influence. In fact, Sweden is better positioned than the US to become a collaborative superpower, especially in the Middle East.
The local (January 10, 2012)
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Λόγω τεχνικού προβλήματος, το τελευταίο διάστημα, η ιστοσελίδα μας δεν λειτουργούσε κανονικά. Η βλάβη πλέον αποκαταστάθηκε. Λυπούμαστε πολύ για την ταλαιπωρία.
Η Ένωση Ακολούθων Τύπου
Once upon a time diplomats were rarely seen or heard in public. To do their vital work of privately communicating messages between national leaders they needed to be discreet, anonymous, detached, aloof, rarefied. In a word, invisible. When I joined the Foreign Office in 1979 the rules on such things were clear and strict. UK-based diplomats would never appear in the British media: that was what Ministers were expected (and wanted) to do. Overseas it was slightly different. British diplomats had some discretion to respond to foreign media requests for interviews and statements, but when in doubt, they should check with the FCO News Department in London. No Foreign Minister wanted to have their breakfast ruined by opening the newspaper to find a sensational report of something unexpected or unwelcome proclaimed by an FCO official overseas. Back then these limitations on diplomatic media appearances made sense: the media themselves were restricted. In Britain and elsewhere there were a tiny number of TV stations and relatively few newspapers. Official foreign policy pronouncements could – and should – be rationed accordingly to keep everything at a suitable level of sobriety. This all changed. Along came new technology, CNN, the internet, Twitter and Facebook, a proliferation of TV channels available across the planet at any time of day or night, digital radio, blogging. A Tower of Babel. A tsunami of noisy words, comment, pseudo-analysis and even, now and again, some facts. The media are increasingly no longer something separate or ‘above’ the general public. The media are the general public.
Charles Crawford
The Diplomat magazine (UK), (December 2011)
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It is fantastic news that the British Council have resumed their work in Libya this month. Their last eleven years of presence in the country were rudely interrupted when they were forced to close the office in February 2011.
The British Council’s work in the region over the coming months will include offering citizenship and arts grants to build up civil society; teaching English, including educational radio broadcasts across the country; using UK higher education expertise to create universities that value cultural activity and free speech; and developing curricula and qualifications for vocational education. This type of work has occurred across the globe – including North Africa and the Middle East – since the British Council was founded in the early 1930s. Historically it has enjoyed significant success, including in apartheid South Africa, in democratising countries in Eastern Europe, and in post-Soviet Russia.
John Glen, Member of Parliament for Salisbury
Haff Post, Politics, UK (December 5, 2011)
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It is clear that the Euro-crisis has and will have huge implications for EU foreign policy. A lot depends on what happens in the next months – the solution to the Greek or Italian problems, the contours of a multi-speed Europe and how messy a solution or non-solution to the euro-crisis will be. Things can get worse, or they can get better. But it is already possible to take a snapshot of the foreign policy implications of the Eurozone crisis. The picture contains a push to the background of all foreign policy issues, followed by fewer foreign policy resources and a coma for EU soft power, made worse by the fact that the EU understanding of power is so unhedged.
euobserver.com (November 25, 2011)
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Branding strategist Peter Economides talks about Rebranding Greece at the 11th International Conference “Aristoteles” of the Hellenic Management Association, hosted at Thessaloniki (November 17, 2011).
The video is available here.
Ομιλία του Peter Economides με θέμα “Rebranding Greece” στα πλαίσια του 11ου Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου “ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣ” της ΕΕΔΕ στη Θεσσαλονίκη (17/11/2011).
Το video είναι διαθέσιμο εδώ
The U.S. State Department has jumped into the world of online communication with a vengeance. January 2012 has been designated 21st Century Statecraft month, and Administration officials have been busy tweeting, blogging, doing online Facebook chats, streaming video, and just about every other social media platform imaginable.
